Deadline dealing…

It’s official…Casey Blake is en route to Los Angeles, hopefully in time for tonight’s game. We acquired him early this morning for two minor leaguers…Jonathan Meloan, who pitched in five games for us last year and Carlos Santana, a Single-A catcher who is having a very nice year for Inland Empire.

The move obviously helps the big league club immediately without having to trade anyone from the team, which is pretty much every contender’s goal around this time of the year. Blake’s offensive numbers are .289-11-58 with a .365 on-base percentage and .465 slugging percentage, most of which would pretty much be leading our current team.

If he can get to Los Angeles in time for tonight’s game (he’s currently in the air so the chances are pretty good), we’ll obviously have a corresponding move but I don’t know what it is (nor could I really say even if I did, as it’s always important to let the player know before the rest of the world, right?)

My only reservation is that Casey Blake has spent his entire career in the American League and with a few exceptions such as Barry Zito, C.C. Sabathia, Dan Haren, etc., is largely unfamiliar with National League pitching. When the Dodgers acquired Steve Finley in 2004, he was able to hit the ground running whereas Blake will have a learning curve to overcome without a lot of time.

Overall though, I applaud Ned Colletti on acquiring a quality veteran bat without sacrificing the future. If Blake is able to make a smooth adjustment, he will be just what the Dodgers and their struggling lineup needs.

I think the key to making this deal is the “cash coming” aspect from Cleveland. I don’t know what Blake will contribute for the remaining couple of months, but the more important consideration for Frank’s got to be when Schmidt will pitch again effectively to earn his millions and if Jones will ever contribute for his even bigger millions. On that score Ned is still batting zero, but is trying to look busy until his departure.

Blake may be all right for the time being, but FIRE NED’S A** NOW, if not sooner.

Went to the game last night and for what it is worth, the fans gave JP a warm reception, booed AJ and a mixed reaction to Paul LoDuca who was playing first base for the Nationals. I also had a short conversatin with some other fans who pretty much shared the sentiment on this blog about playing Jones over Ethier.

For those of you who do not get the L.A. Times, you might find this little exchange between Joe Torre and a reporter interesting:

When asked if Jones, who cut short a minor league rehab assignment to rejoin the team when Pierre was hurt, could go back to triple-A Las Vegas to work on his swing now that Pierre was healthy, Torre snapped.

“You know,” he said, “when you get your team, why don’t you run it the way you want it? I’ll do this for a while.”

Santana is our highest rated catching prospect and has the most power of all our prospects. Losing him will be a mistake over the long run. Casey is a career .265/.336/.446 hitter. Not much to write home about. I have no doubt that given the time and a chance LaRoache could better those numbers. Colletti needs to go.

Torre is just about the biggest A**hole manager I’ve ever seen trying to manage.

I still think Laroche was not given a chance to show what he can do. Torre just does not know how to make a lineup, doesn’t know how to handle young players and keeps worthless players in the game when younger players can do a better job and with a lot less $$$$ and the fans would all be a lot happier.

i’m not really sure what to think.. i guess blake (as in dewitt) will be going to triple-a tonight.. but that’s my guess.. who really knows.. if they use this trade as an excuse to flip laroche i will be IRATE.. i guess i have to sit here and wait.. nervously..

lbirken – I read that article, too, and I think it’s a good thing Torre snapped. It means the media is starting to ask the obvious questions we’ve been asking since day one. I hope they keep asking those questions over and over again.

Andy LaRoche 4 games in a row that he started this past for games were the most consecutive games he’s starting in his career! He never got a full shot and we gave up our best catching prospect and our best relief prospect for two months of a guy who if given time Andy LaRoche would probably out produce. Ned is an idiot.

And that trade proposal for CC was laughable. How does this team get better by sending away our best offensive player in Matt Kemp for a pitcher.

torre is a complete idiot and Ned is a PR guy that couldn’t trade talent for talent if he was told what to do. sorry everyone but you are witnessing the total destruction and fall of our beloved Dodger organization.

NERD, this trade is not going to save your job, but you effectively killed a lot of fans in your short stay here and I for one am looking forward to watching the Angels game today.

Did anyone read that garbage my Michael Scwhartz saying Juan Pierre single handedly jump started the Dodgers to victory last night!!! And he said he was a savior for the Dodgers when Furcal went down. He also said we were without a “true” leadoff hitter when he went down and that Matt Kemp filled in admirabaly in his absence. He went as far as to say that he is great at scoring runs at the top of the order. this guy needs to read stats because Freaking Popup McFly has scored 30 runs while every other regular has scored more runs……. ARGHHHHHHH
thank god for the Angels.

At least we know Torre has a pulse. I also have to take a wait and see attitude about this trade. Santana may very well become a good player but with Russell Martin behind the plate for hopefully a long time to come, how much opportunity will any catching prospect have to make it with the big league club?

For those of you looking towards the Angels, be my guest. I have nothing against the Angels even if they wear red and love Mike Scoscia. However, the Dodgers have always been “my team” and always will be even though times have been tough for Dodger fans for a long time. Can you imagine how Brooklyn Dodger fans felt losing all those series to the Yankees before finally winning one? I know, we are would welcome the opportunity to play the Yankees (or anyone else) in a World Series game.

Just another stupid deal. Sticking with Colletti’s pattern of giving up to much youthful talent for too little in return. Blake is another Vet that is not a difference maker. Career .260/.335/.780 type who is basically worthless. I’d rather play LaRoache but god forbid.

“Casey Blake is a gamer,” Dodgers GM Ned Colletti said. “His experience and character will be a plus as we head down the stretch in the final two months of the regular season.

LOL u said the same thing with so many “gamers” now Ned that we don’t believe you and you don’t even believe you.

if logan white has the veto power that people are starting to believe he has.. i doubt he would have let this deal go through if he believed we were giving up way too much.. it seems like we are.. but we shall see..

It’s not the worst deal ever, but silly to me. I think LaRoache can do the job so therfore if they replace Pierre with Blake and play him with Ethier and Kemp I am good. But then I have a better chance of seeing pigs fly somewhere other than a Pink Floyd concert and that’s just not gonna happen.

jnv – your wife’s theory is coming to life :) It’s okay, venting is good. I did plenty last night, and I’m sure tonight will be much of the same. I enjoyed watching Casey Blake play, but that was yesterday when he was still in Cleveland – not so sure about a Dodger. I want Andy and our Blake out there.
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PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER
PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER
PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER
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sigh! – I feel better now :)

I feel like I am already routing for the dark side. You have to think Ned is doing this on purpose! He has to be destroying the Dodgers from the inside. Everything he’s done since he’s been GM has done nothing but hurt the team, except for Andre (who doesnt even play anymore thanks to his FA deals) and Maddux. Not to mention he still wears that stupid second place ring he “won” with the Giants in 2002. This guy is a joke! That blotched trade deal tells you everything you need to know about Ned which is HE IS A MENTAL DEFECT! I bet if a group of people held him down and we cut off the top of his head we’d find a little wind up monkey smashing cymbals together. The dude is clueless when it comes to making a baseball decision.

Enjoying your rants, Max! I’m kind of dulled over with all these management machinations. Just as long as we don’t really lose any of our important youngsters, I’ll just tag along and see what the end of the season brings. I am so disgusted with Ned and JoJo and Frank isn’t far behind. What a bunch of total a**h***s!!!

Think its safe to say that Ned’s been bamboozled again. Must have been Frank that insisted that Cleveland pay the rest of Blake’s salary. Shrewd move gentlemen.

Can anyone honestly think that Casey Blake puts us over the top?

Well, in 6-7 years when Santana is putting up annual 25-30 HR seasons, and in 2-3 years when Meloan has turned into a quality set-up man, Casey Blake will have given us the best two months ever (I’m sure) a journeyman could – in 2008.

And reading this line, why do I feel “some” might say we have 5 outfielders?:

“Other teams that pursued Blake included the Rays, Mets and Phillies. Those three teams would have played Blake in the outfield. But with the trade completed, he’ll become the Dodgers’ everyday third baseman, replacing slumping rookies Blake DeWitt and Andy LaRoche.”

I heard about the trade on WFAN in NY but the Dodger players were not mentioned. I was surprised and disappointed to see that Santana was included for a rest of the season player.
However, on the other side of the argument Santana while only 22 has never (in his 3 prior minor league seasons) hit anything close to what he has this year.
Casey Blake since becoming a regular in 2003 at the age of 29 has averaged over 20 HR’s a year, he has 58 RBI’s this season more than any Dodger. DeWitt hit .182 in June and .229 so far in July with no HR’s in either month and a total of 6 RBI’s. That is why LaRoche is even on the roster. LaRoche is hitting .203.
Cleveland played SD, Colo., and SF earlier this season so Casey Blake has at least seen those teams.
You have to have faith in Laroche based on minor league stats to call this trade silly as jungar does above but jungar you used to provide arguments no longer does.

LMAO!!! Great posts everybody!! Every time we think things can’t get much worse, they always do. I am holding on for the next blow to this team because I doubt we’ve seen the last of this crap we’ve already had to endure.
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PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER
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Sigh ! I feel better now :)

Blake is not bad, but it’s not like the sportsbooks in Vegas are now frantically updating the odds of us winning the World Series. I see this as a “Ned’s trying to save his job” maneuver where he can say “I tried.” It’s a two month rental of a 35 year-old “gamer” who “gets it.” Though Ned’s previous acquisitions with those criteria have worked out great, I was expecting a much worse move.

That said, why not give Dewitt + Laroche experience at 3rd since they will one day be starters.

Why not can Ned and JoJo and replace them with people that actually know baseball and appreciate the value of young talent. Hell, why not can Ned and JoJo and get two people in there than can just evaluate and play talent regardless of age or contract.

enchanted LMAO!!!- that’s not funny, even though I am laughing. I think it’s the fact that anything goes at this point, and it probably wouldn’t surprise me with how idiotic things have gone so far.
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PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***
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sigh – I feel better now :)

Terrible, Terrible Trade. Omar Santana was definitely a keeper. Why would any owner with any baseball sense, let a lame duck GM, with a terrible track record, trade away a young, power-hitting, defensive minded catcher? And this in light of the fact that you haven’t locked Russell Martin to a long term deal. The Indians realize what Ned doesn’t: that Omar Santana is a far better catcher than Lucas May. Wow, this is amazing… chock up another Dodger trade that will live in infamy.

Havoc, as much as we might want it to be, do not assume the Dodgers are certain DeWitt and LaRoche will become mainstays with the big league club. DeWitt was not even on the 40 man roster and LaRoche was injured during Spring training. DeWitt has done well but has struggled for some time. LaRoche has done o.k. as well in limited opportunities but obviously has not done anything that dazzles management. Realistically, neither of these two players has yet to demonstrate the desired power that a third baseman is supposed to provide. To be sure, Blake is not a long term answer but a short term attemtp to provide some power in a power hungry lineup.

ANOTHER RIDICULOUS TRADE! Is there no end to the stupidity of Dodger management? Why give up that kind of young talent to rent a player for a few months? LaRoche was never really given a shot at 3B, and Ethier, who Torre benches, has the same number of HRs as Blake. If power is so important, play Ethier. The two players traded will be making their mark in MLB long after Blake is a bad faded memory. He certainly isn’t going to get the Dodgers into the Series. After being a fan for over 50 years I’ve about had it with this team. The McCourt era is a disgrace to the Dodger name and has taken what was once one of the most respected organizations in baseball and made it the laughing stock of baseball.

Casey Blake is 35 years old, right up there with Nomar, Lowe, Chan Ho, et al. Admittedly, this a two-month rental, but the Dodgers paid a mighty handsome rental fee. I think they’ll miss Meloan a lot before this is all said and done.

this is pretty ridiculous indeed. they don’t have a problem in the infield. the problem is in the outfield. the older expensive guys are playing while the younger, better players sit.

true, if laroche had been with the club all year, we might have not needed this trade, but once again, he wil sit or go to the minors, for the third straight year.

i know casey blake was the last sexy name tossed around on the blogs for trade bait, but I don’t get it. this team will go as far as kent and fatboy jones take them. right now, it looks like second place and out of the playoffs.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but Blake at 3B, Nomore at SS, Kent at 2B. – Does that not leave three holes to fill next year? But I’m sure JoJo the Clown will lobby to have all three resigned for ’09.

Its interesting that when the Yankees first hired JoJo and they were basically the only franchise that could buy every good ballplayer, JoJo won the brass ring. When the Boston’s and the Anaheim’s et al. finally caught up and could match dollars for talent with old Steinbrenner, JoJo still had the horses to compete, but he never led them to the promised land like the first few seasons.

Point being, when JoJo’s on equal footing, he can’t manage his way out of a wet paper bag.

Agreed, ibirken. They don’t provide A-Rod power, but they will only improve with time. Casey Blake didn’t make it to the majors until age 28 and has had the luxury of hitting amongst Peralta, Sizemore, Hafner, Martinez, Garko etc. If Dewitt didn’t have Jones/Berroa hitting in front of him and the pitcher behind him, he might get some fatter pitches. My point is this: the 2008 season doesn’t looking too promising. Making a trade for the sake of making a trade is pointless.

Obviously, when other GM’S see Ned coming at the trade deadline they must surely be laughing their A** off inside knowing they are about to make a deal that will really benefit their club. We just continue to give away the farm (team that is) to acquire has beens, players past their prime and players on a fast downhill track that are not going to help this team.

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If Torre stated he was going to play the kids and let them get experience no matter how many games we won, I for one wouldn’t question him. We have some players like Laroche who everyone said was going to be a power hitter and has never been given a chance to show what he can do long term. Torre does not have a clue at this point how to run this team and he probably never will. He’s over the hill also.

I am in my car on the way home from Vegas, and you all are very entertaining to say the least. BTW somebody mentioned Vegas and the odds for the World Series. This is how important the Dodgers are right now – There were 25 plus TV screens in the sportsbook, and all the games were being showed but the Dodgers.
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PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***PLAY ANDRE ETHIER***
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sigh – I feel better now :)

Bad news: He’s gotten all his wins on the road.
Good news: He has a 5.36 ERA on the road, and only has 3 wins all year.

Against Perez, we have Jeff Kent and Angel Berroa hitting .667 in 3 AB’s each. Andruw Jones has a .417 batting average in 12 AB’s (pre-2008). Nomar’s triple goose-egg in 3 AB’s against Perez, while Pierre is .133 in 15 AB’s against the O. Kent and Jones have 5 RBI’s each against him.

As far as the Nasty Nats against D-Lowe, Willie Harris leads at .385 with 13 AB’s (no RBI’s, though). Felipe Lopez is .333 in 15 AB’s and a RBI. Paul LoDuca is .250 in 8 AB’s.

good afternoon.
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Have a safe ride home Dnel! Hope your trip went well.
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It was a good win last night. I am glad that we had that rally and Brox was able to hold them off. Good stuff.
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Thank you Eric. I am honored to have made your website :)
I am the first to admit that Andre should be playing over jones and that pierre isn’t the best baseball player out there. But I think he helps the team, is focused and he takes his job seriously. I wont freak out over what I can’t control when it comes to line ups. I love this team and I always will, so I support the guys we have out there day to day.

Even beyond Andruw’s incompetence, the biggest disappointment for me in 2008 is Joe Torre. And I never thought I’d say that six months ago. Handed a young, talented roster, expected to mature in the next year or so, Joe has hooked his wagon to a bunch of aging, under-achieving PVLs in hopes of forcing victories NOW (which, of course, isn’t happening). It’s almost as if “leaving” (some might called it “fired”) the Yankees has caused him to adopt an “I’ll show you!” attitude, when in fact, Joe said time and time again this winter that he was relaxed and had nothing to prove. As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words…

boblee, they don’t let signs into the stadium. They don’t let beachballs in either, but those are easier to get in. Maybe everyone should write PLAY ETHIER on beach balls.

But please, for the love of God, beach ballers, don’t play with the beach balls when the Dodgers are pitching. If Dodger fans would realize that playing with the beach balls while we’re up would disrupt the opposition’s rhythm, we’d have a mad homefield advantage.

Well, maybe not mad, but I’ll be less mad the next time an LA pitcher has two men on base, and has to wait while they take a beachball off the field. But if it said “PLAY ETHIER”, I guess it’d be less angering.

Wow…I haven’t been on here for a few months. I remember when jungar and I were the only ones calling out Colletti for his bad moves and foretold of more to come. We were told to stop being so negative. How the times have changed…

The only strong example on why the Dodgers shouldn’t trust rookies comes from their front office and ownership. Ned as a rookie GM got fleeced by savvy, veteran GMs and sports agents in every deal he’s been involved in. Both he and McCourt make decisions based on how they’ll be perceived, rather than improving the team on the field. Instead of learning and adapting, Ned has shown no growth or willingness to change. He continues to chase over-the-hill, injury prone vets whose best years are behind them.

btw, watch the video on the MLB gameday preview, it’s about the Dodgers’ lead-off situation. They mention Kemp’s numbers, and follow it up with Juan’s 1-4 stat last night, but polish it with Nomar’s killer 2 RBI double.

Well, I’m glad we got a 3rd baseman, I just think we got the wrong one. I know some of you love Dewitt and LaRoche but DeWitt is hitting .195 since May 30 and LaRoche has shown me nothing on the major league level that makes me believe he is the answer either. Now, as for Casey Blake he is a career .265 hitter and I know he is having a career type year but I would have preferred Beltre instead of him even if we had to give up Meloan, Santana and LaRoche.

Little Neddy Colleti went to school and got his lunch money stolen again. Ned is incompetent as a manager and he simply is a bad evaluator of talent. Cleveland fooled him so badly he has no business to be a big league manger. Santana and Meloan for two months of an over the hill 3B is stupid. Coming from the American league to the National league, he will have poor numbers.

I do not agree with all of Torre’s moves. Andre Ethier is sitting again. How can he ever get into the swing of things when he has been over the last two years been jerked back and forth all of the time. I guess we will see what he’s got when Ned trades him to a team that will respect him. Torre is truly a bad manger.

I said this before “Winning is a deodorant that covers up bad management and coaching decisions.” So when the Dodgers were winning nobody questioned Joe’s’ moves or Ned decisions were not an issue. The Dodgers were the biggest disappointment in the NL West last season when they finished two games above .500. I am afraid the Dodgers will not fair much better because of the constraints that Ned Colletti has put on the team. This is why a good player like Andre Ethier is benched and will be traded. In addition, we are forced to watch Andruw Jones strike out three to four times a game.

Well, can you blame him northstate? We did not even make him an offer back in 04…. So, I can’t say that he should not be angry. Look, I am a fan first and foremost, I want to see my team win. I really don’t think this hurts us at all, on top of that, I would not be dissapointed to see us deal Laroche… It just depends on what we get in return. One more thing… I kind of like the fire that Torre displayed when he was interviewed last night… It’s good to know that he feels that strongly about things… whether he’s completely right or not. Let’s just wait and see how this whole thing pans out. I for one am not going to get upset about them trading a single A player and a guy who had an era over 10.00 during his call up last year.

Jayson Stark says the Dodgers are looking for bullpen help and he also floats the idea of Maddux coming here and the Dodgers putting a current starter into the pen. I kind of like that idea if we end up not trading Lowe. It all depends on Penny coming back and pitching well. A rotation of Bills, Lowe, Penny, Kuroda and Maddux would be nice and putting Kershaw into the pen would help him. It helped Bills! Even though I hated the decision at the time Grady Little put Bills in the Pen I think it helped Bills a lot!

At the risk of continued repetition, I can’t think of anything to add that hasn’t already been said. Kahli – Sizemore in the outfield would be a dream, and that would solve the leadoff spot – he’s hands down above and beyond Pierre.
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PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER***PLAY*ANDRE*ETHIER
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Sigh! I feel better now :)
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I am taking over driving duties so this will be my last post until game time. Thanks for all the great comments. It’s good to know you are in good company when it comes to these incomprehensible decisions this management team is making. You made this part of the trip go very fast. Also, thanks for indulging me on my Andre rants. Love the beachball idea! However, I wouldn’t want it to interfere with the Dodgers PLAY ethier (either). ~ :)

Hey folks! Just checking in real quick.
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I’m mixed on the Blake trade. I love DeWitt and high on LaRoche. But Blake has not hit enough to say that he is a solid thirdbaseman on a contending team. Andy, due mainly to an untimely injury and Blake’s excellent start, has not had enough time to show what he can or cannot do at the major league level and is therefore not a proven starting thirdbaseman on a contending team either.
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Casey Blake has been a solid player for the Indians for the last five years or so. He is hitting somewhat better this year than his stats would predict. The question is will he continue to do so for the rest of the season.
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The biggest question, though, is if JoJo will use him properly. Obviously, that is very doubtful.
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Here is my prediction for tonight’s lineup if Blake arrives in L.A. on time:
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Pierre
Martin
Blake
Kent
Garciaparra
Kemp
Loney
Jones
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So the likely effect in JoJoLand of the arrival of Casey Blake is to knock Kemp down four spots in the order, a total of five spots when you count the spot he lost to PopGun Pierre.
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Here’s what that order should look like:
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Kemp
Ethier
Martin
Garciaparra
Loney
Blake
Kent
Delwyn
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But as Joe says, it’s his damn team and he’ll run it as he sees fit, no matter how idiotically that is.
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As does dnelly, I see JoJo’s mini-explosion at a reporter as a sign that at least one reporter is at long last asking some of the questions we fans have been begging to get the answers to for months. I hope that reporter keeps it up and the rest of them stop acting like Plaschkes. (Isn’t the word “Plaschke” a curse word that should be ***ed out on this blog?)

Not the best way to wake up in the land down under. I think all that can be said about trading for another aging vet probably past his prime has been said. I did note that it was also mentioned that we’re looking at Huston Street? I hope this is not so as I have seen written, by scouts, that Street is probably pitching hurt – arm angle and velocity – but then making bad deals is Ned’s forte. Isn’t it?

How does Ned still have a job? Bad trade, after bad signing, after bad trade, after bad signing. His best move was trading Bradley (now tearing up the AL) for Ethier (who sits every year behind washed up vets that Ned brings in).

First off, Josh you need to stop riding ned coletti’s tail and man up and admit that we got robbed, as nedco usually does 9 times out of 10. Ned is all lip service and has no clue about running a franchise.

Is it impossible that DeWitt goes back to AA, and LaRoche to AAA, and next year they fight it out in Spring Training for the starting position? I agree that it’s more likely that one of them is traded this week, but I wouldn’t mind this move if it gave both of those young guys time to get back in the groove before they hit the big league club again.

LaRoche has been in a bad spot since he hurt himself in Spring training. As I recall he had the inside track to push Nomar and at least have a shot at third base and then both of them got hurt the same day. DeWitt steps in and does such a good job LaRoche gets stuck in AAA. LaRoche finally gets the call to the big club but still spends a lot of time on the outside looking in. Now, when he gets a chance to start for a few games, everyone thinks it is just to showcase him for a potential deal. I don’t know how good he might be but I don’t think going back to minor league ball makes much sense for him either.

DeWitt may be another story. If the newer Blake is going to get most of the playing time, it might make sense to send DeWitt back down so he can play everyday and work on his game.

I am not sure if this is your department, but if you are teh one responsible for the e-mails the team sends out, could you work on the subject lines. I got an e-mail with the subject “Dodgers acquire Casey Blake from the Indians” and nearly had my first heart attack at 32. Why don’t you skip the team we acquired him from (first, who cares? and second, it’s not like we could acquire Casey Blake from the Marlins–unless it’s a deal for Chris Young, the team is unnecessary) and add who we dealt him for. I had to hold my breath to see whether I would have to take drastic action or not. Fortunately, I don’t.
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So, my assessment–ehh. Josh’s statement that “the move obviously helps the big club immediately. . .” is actually quite far from obvious. Blake is good hitter havng a good year, but he’s certainly far from great. While he might be the best “deadline deal” hitter out there, but let’s not go too far. His .830 OPS, 11 HR and 58 RBI is about the same as Matt Kemp’s .806 OPS, 11 HR and 55 RBI, and no one in the Dodger organization is saying that “Matt Kemp” is a gamer, or an impact bat, etc. And we could have gotten into our line-up a guy with a .793 OPS, 11 HR and 45 RBI for NOTHING–all we need to do that is to actually play Andre Ethier.
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So, does it help? Well, since he came up, Blake has been a better than average 3rd baseman, and pretty consistent. He’s never been and never will be a 30 HR guy, and he’s never hit and never will hit .300. But as a 7th hitter (which is where he should hit–K, E, M, K, L/G, G/L, B, P/J,), he’ll be quite good.
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But the issue that makes it far less than obvious depends on the answers to these three questions:
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1) Will Blake see a drop off moving to the National League (as almost every hitter does)? Yes, but how much?
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2) Will Blake see a drop off moving to what is still one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in Baseball, as almost everyone who comes to Dodger Stadium does? Yes, but how much?
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3) If given the chance, could Andy LaRoche be as good as Blake? We will find out, someday, somewhere, but right now, we don’t know.
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So, all I can say as to whether he helps is welcome Casey, we’re pulling for you, we admire a guy with a consistent bushy beard, and hope you help us.
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The good news, is certainly that the trade does not immediately hurt us. None of the untouchables were touched, and no one on the next level was sacrificed. Meloan (whose thighs are, unblievably, the combined size of Broxton’s AND Billingsley’s–I thought Bills had tree trunks until I saw Meloan) is on the next tier of good prospects, so we are giving up something. But, Meloan just plain dominated last year and has not been that great this year. It could be partly Vegas, it could be that he’s not really there, who knows? Max says he was our best reliever prospect, but he had moved back to starting and really wanted to stay there. That might have been a bad choice for him. I’m sorry to see him go, I hope that it works out for everyone.
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I had not heard of Santana at all until today. I looked at his numbers and was not too impressed. He’s in his thrd full season in pro ball and has not made it out of Class A (compare to Russell Martin and James Loney who came up to the Dodgers in his fourth season, Matt Kemp debuted in his third, and Clayton Kershaw is in his second) and has not really raked until this year. It could be the turning point, and a lot of people here rate him very high, so I think we’re definitely losing something there too. The consolation is that we have clearly calculated that Lucas May (who is ahead of Santana on the depth chart) is more likely to come up, and of course the Captain is going to be wearing the gear for a long time to come, so it’s a loss we can afford. Overall, we paid too much, but it’s better than a lot of deals where we let good prospects leave for nothing, and it did not cost us the untouchables.
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My concern over the deal, however is based on two problems:
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1) philosophically, I think it continues to show a wrong-headed attachment to PVLs, even while our youth movement, when allowed to move forward, has proven successful. Blake is 35, and a late bloomer, so we’re not signing a spring chicken or a long-term player. I don’t know if LaRoche could outplay him, and we’re not going to get to find out. And it’s entirely possible that this is the right way to go in this instance. But over the last three years, we have such a poor track record of signing older players, I am skeptical. We’re like the mouse who keeps going for the electrified cheese even though he gets shocked–except the mouse eventually gives up on the cheese.
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2) Our problem is NOT at 3B. We’ve pointed this out tirelessly here, but it seems that this does not compute. I love what Nomar’s been doing, and God willing he’ll do so the rest of the season. But, if the goal is to win a World Series, I don’t think relying on luck is the way to go. And if we really need improvement at 3B, we could have gotten a shortstop, played Nomar at 3B, and if he goes down, we have options. Now, if Nomar goes down, it’s Screwsville–population, the Dodgers.
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I am not concerned over next season, and the prospect of replacing a 2B, a 3B, and ****. I continue to think that LaRoche and Dewitt are both reasonable options at the bags, Chin-Lung Hu may prove to be a good major leaguer yet (he was not ready now, but that does not mean he’ll never be ready), Tony Abreu may come back, Ivan DeJesus may advance, Preston Mattingly has the lineage, and if Casey Blake earns a 1 or 2 year deal, we’re OK. Plus, at this point, I think we re-sign Furcal to a one-year deal for a song. He has basically missed 2 years with injuries, and it’s going to be tough for teams to take a risk on him, so he’ll want a year to prove something.
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A last note, I promise–I think this is pretty much it. The team HAS to see that it has 3 infield positions to deal with next year, and HAS to know that LaRoche still has big promise, so dealing him is silly. Getting a shortstop now is just not likely, because then what? We send Nomar back to the bench? We’re just going to Hope Nomar brings it home for the rest of the year. The only deal out there might be for Maddux, and since he does not want to go anywhere but the West Coast, there are few options for the Padres if they want to move him. But it seems highly unlikely that we would move LaRoche for him. Too steep a price (and the Padres are in love with Kouzmanoff anyway). Maddux for a player to be named later and cash is a good thing, and Max is right that if it meant Kershaw pitching out of the bullpen but talking to Maddux everyday, it would be a huge benefit just for that experience.

Is there anyone out there that is happy as a dodger fan? Happy in general with this move? I just read thru all comments from today and don’t see any. I’d like to hear from people who think Torre and Coletti (or McCourt) are doing good jobs.

MartinLoneyKemp–get back to studying.
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Folks–do not engage MartinLoneyKemp in dialougue. He’s supposed to be studying for the California Bar Exam that he’s taking next Tuesday-Thursday, and he does not need the distraction.
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He should be back in time for the collision with the Diamondbacks.

“The gem of the Blake deal looks to be Santana, who currently leads all Minor Leaguers with 96 RBIs. Spending the entire season with the Inland Empire 66ers of the Class A California League, the 22-year-old switch-hitting catcher is batting .323 with 88 runs scored, 34 doubles, four triples and 14 home runs. He has more walks (69) than strikeouts (59).

Santana will report to Class A Kinston.

Meloan, 24, is 5-10 with a 4.97 ERA in 21 games, including 20 starts, at Triple-A Las Vegas this season. Recently converted to starting work this year, the 24-year-old right-hander has been transferred to Triple-A Buffalo and will be converted back to a relief role.

Last year, at Double-A Jacksonville and Las Vegas, he was a combined 7-2, 2.03 ERA and 20 saves in 49 relief appearances.”

Only Ned would trade that kind of potential for a rental he really doesn’t need. He NEVER gets value for the plays he gives away. For that kind of talent, any other GM would get MUCH, MUCH MORE! Simply pathetic!!!

I am very surprised that everyone is enamored with Nomar at SS. True he’s hitting the ball hard but his range is almost zero. He can’t reach a ball just off his glove side and he can’t cover a ball hit up the middle. If you put that together with Kent’s zero range at 2B you have an aging disaster up the middle and we go and get a 3B having a career year at 35! 11HR! Wow! He sure is the power bat we’ve been missing.

Jungar–does relieved count? I am relieved that it was Meloan and Santana for Blake, rather than that atrocious proposal that was floated earlier for Sabathia, Blake, and financing for “No, No, Nannette.” Max is right that Frank should have fired Ned on the spot if he brought that to him–and should be pretty worried that other GMs around the league really think that they can take advantage of him so badly.
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As I have said, I am phenomenomally disappointed with Torre. Ned, I am not happy about, but I blame Joe more (higher expectations, perhaps). But I think that McCourt is trying. That may be a minority and unpopular view around here, but I honestly get the sense that he wants to do well, and as I’ve mentioned, winning is good for busines. And if history proves that he was responsible for vetoing those bad ideas, you have to give him some credit.
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But happy, not really. But if they win a few in a row . . . .

Seriously, I’d be happy if we took the division. It isn’t going to happen if the D’backs acquire Teixeira. I think he’s their missing link. For some reason the Nedster thinks Casey Blake is that link. What big freaking fool. Sigh…

redfox–great information. That confirms the worst news–Santana really is as good as folks here are saying, and Meloan is going back to the role he excelled in. We overpaid, clearly (it could be worse–if that’s a defense).
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lbirken–good question about Furcal and whether he would re-sign for a song. I don’t know–I was just sort of speculating. I would not give him another 3-year big money deal, but I would do a small one-year deal. In a way, it’s sort of what Andruw Jones did. He could not get a long-term deal because his performance had slid so much, so he signed a short deal that would give him a chance to shine again, and get a big contract (that has, to date, failed miserably, but he was not getting other bites). Furcal’s situation is worse, in some ways. Jones, everyone thought was healthy, but maybe lazy, maybe a bad year, who knows? Furcal has clearly had injury problems, and when the bod starts breaking down, it’s hard for it to get going again. He’s better off because, unlike Jones, when he has played, he has not slipped. So someone might be willing to take a flier on him. And he and Jones are best of friends, and we’re stuck with Andruw for one more year. So, it’s possble.
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Or you could read the short answer: maybe.

So, Blake is supposed to be our power hitter!!!!!!!!!! If Laroche had played all year with no injuries, he would no doubt have at least 11 HR’s. I don’t see where we have improved ourselves at all. Just moved some bodies around. Ned makes trades just to prove he can make a trade. This team is going nowhere with Ned making the personnel moves and Joe not knowing who to play with what he has. Torre only knows he wants to play old players because he’s old. What a shame that we are stuck with the results.

Magic, I think we are not so much laughing at Odalis but at the situation. Odalis was a pain when he pitched for the Dodgers and as I recall a bit of a flake. But make no mistake, you are right on about how the Dodgers have done against so called bad pitchers. Odalis is the type of pitcher that is all over the strike zone and if he can that slow curve ball over for strikes, he could cause some problems. That would not be funny.

I’m watching the Yanks and Red Sox game, and they just got finished singing “Sweet Caroline”.
I’m envious. I’m damn freaking jealous. I want to be proud of my team, and I’m not. I wish us fans had a reason to sing and a reason to feel good about our players. Boston fans are so united. I freaking hate Boston, but they’re a damn good team and their management actually cares about the fans….

“It’s a shame they had to trade two of their best minor-leaguers for an emergency solution at a position the front office had projected would be filled capably by the homegrown LaRoche and DeWitt.

Meloan, 24, has been a riser since the Dodgers took him out of Arizona in the fifth round of the 2005 draft. Originally projected as a potential closer, the burly right-hander was converted to a starter this year despite notching 19 saves and striking out 70 in 45 1/3 innings in Class AA in 2007. He was 5-10 with a 4.97 ERA in 20 starts at hitter-friendly Las Vegas.

Santana, 22, might be even more promising. The everyday catcher for the Dodgers’ high Class A California League affiliate, he had 96 RBIs and 14 homers in 99 games and batted .323 with an on-base percentage of .431 and more walks than strikeouts. He also has a tremendous arm.

Of course, the Dodgers won’t need a catcher any time soon, not with two-time MLB All-Star Russell Martin ineligible for free agency until after the 2011 season.

But parting with Santana and Meloan, two of the top trade chips in the organization, for a ho-hum third baseman whose production runs to a .265 batting average, 22 home runs and 80 RBIs a season could not have been easy for general manager Ned Colletti – especially when he’s been waiting, waiting, waiting for LaRoche to begin producing just those sort of numbers.”

If Colletti has been waiting, waiting, waiting for LaRoche to produce, why hasn’t LaRoche been given a decent shot at the position? As soon as he got back early from his injury, Ned shipped him to Vegas. Of course, when Jones or Pierre come back early they are immediately rushed into the lineup.

redfox–that column is hilarious and sad–yes, we “had” to trade for Blake because we were waiting, waiting, waiting for LaRoche/ I can just see the front office, pulling their hair out and screaming, “what’s it going to take? I can’t wait 60 whole at-bats! I mean, if it’s going to take a kid more than 14 starts to prove himself, screw it!”
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Blake may prove a good solution, but this was not our problem. The problem is the durability of our shortstop, and the poor hitting of our lead-off hitter and the disasterous hitting of our CF (the last two problems could be solved by fixing the big problem–the poor decision-making by our manager).

Any surprise that Josh would be praising the deal? Look at who he’s working for and figure that he has to be the mouthpiece. When you work for the biggest a**h*** in baseball management, what does that make you? The answer “a small a**h***”. As far as the Dodger management is concerned, an a**h*** is still an a**h***. So much for the source bringing us all the good news.

DeWitt is the one who gets screwed on this move. Yes, He has been hitting under .200 since June, but that is probably because Nomar and LaRoche have been breathing down his neck and Torre hasn’t been playing him consistently. Everyone forgot that DeWitt was hitting .325 and won Rookie of the month award in May (after being the everyday third baseman for the first 60 days of the season – with Nomar and LaRoche resting comfortably on the DL). The kid is young, so vets breathing down his neck, will mess with his confidence. Yet now, everyone has forgotten about Dewitt, and it seems everyone is crying that LaRoche didn’t get his chance. LaRoche was only hittin .270 in AAA and under .200 his entire season in the Bigs so far. I’d also like to mention that Dewitt has the best Defensive Range of any 3b in the NL and he hasn’t made in error in 35 games and is in the top 5 in FPCT.. Yes he was struggling at the plate, but he never stopped producing with his glove. He hasn’t been the everyday third baseman since June 10th (and has had to split with the over-rated LaRoche or Martin). However, during DeWitt’s last 10 game span, that he got 3B all to himself, Dewitt was hitting .290. Yet they only report he’s been hitting .194 since June 1. Hopefully Ned’s little move, for the aging Blake, won’t mess with DeWitt head for the future. The unbelievable pressure to win now, is going to get Ned Fired for sure. This move will blow up in his face. Wait until the new Blake starts slumping with the adjustment to NL pitchers. The Dodgers Management doesn’t have a clue.

DeWitt is the one who gets screwed on this move. Yes, He has been hitting under .200 since June, but that is probably because Nomar and LaRoche have been breathing down his neck and Torre hasn’t been playing him consistently. Everyone forgot that DeWitt was hitting .325 and won Rookie of the month award in May (after being the everyday third baseman for the first 60 days of the season – with Nomar and LaRoche resting comfortably on the DL). The kid is young, so vets breathing down his neck, will mess with his confidence. Yet now, everyone has forgotten about Dewitt, and it seems everyone is crying that LaRoche didn’t get his chance. LaRoche was only hittin .270 in AAA and under .200 his entire season in the Bigs so far. I’d also like to mention that Dewitt has the best Defensive Range of any 3b in the NL and he hasn’t made in error in 35 games and is in the top 5 in FPCT.. Yes he was struggling at the plate, but he never stopped producing with his glove. He hasn’t been the everyday third baseman since June 10th (and has had to split with the over-rated LaRoche or Martin). However, during DeWitt’s last 10 game span, that he got 3B all to himself, Dewitt was hitting .290. Yet they only report he’s been hitting .194 since June 1. Hopefully Ned’s little move, for the aging Blake, won’t mess with DeWitt head for the future. The unbelievable pressure to win now, is going to get Ned Fired for sure. This move will blow up in his face. Wait until the new Blake starts slumping with the adjustment to NL pitchers. The Dodgers Management doesn’t have a clue.

The way this team is run, management DESERVES Street at whatever cost. We fans don’t, but [mis]management does.

I’ve got to believe that someone rode roughshod over Logan on the Blake deal – no way he’d think that was a good move and sign off on it.

As a side note: I think that Josh values his job, and in his position as the V.P. of public relations and broadcasting, he has to put a happy face on it or he wouldn’t be doing his job. It’d be nice if he could be the George Costanza of the Dodgers and do the opposite, but realistically, what can he do?

• The reason the Indians were able to get Carlos Santana, a very high-level prospect, in the Casey Blake deal is that the Indians took on all of Blake’s remaining $2 million salary. Several GMs around baseball wonder if L.A. doesn’t have cash flow problems.

I, being in St Louis watch a lot of the Cardinal games but they are not even close to being a possible runner up to the Dodgers as my team. After every game they have Tony Larusa on for comments and questions from the press. Thus is a guy that knows how to manage a baseball team. What I wouldn’t give to have him as manager of the Dodgers. He knows how to relate to the players and actually gets excited when the players do something good and he knows how to handle the press.
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Well, we have Joe Torre who has never had a winning season in the National League and doesn’t know how to handle the press and none of the above. I’m just wasting my time typing this as the Dodger Management really doesn’t give a crap what the fans think. If the fans stayed away in droves, I bet they might notice.

Dodger baseball is apart of all of our lives. Whether we live in LA or not we all have many reason why we love this team. We have winning seasons and losing seasons, times were we connect with certain players on the team, and others where no one really impresses us. This team is definetly in transition with management and a younger mix of players. Transitions take time and as a ‘new’ team we have to develop together and that takes patience. We will all have our opinions and disagree with a lot of what happens on and off the field, but it is all out of our control. There are reasons why things are happening the way they are and many of them we won’t know because we are not on the inside. We will bleed Dodger blue long after Ned, Joe, etc.. so we need to focus the the players we have and on wins. Instead of getting all worked up over management, which may not be perfect, we need to support our team through thick and thin. I still love my boys in blue and love watching them play, they really bring so much joy into my life. This may not be our season but I have to trust that the McCourts also want a winning team and will hopefully do what it takes to make right decisions.
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Please try to cheer on our guys reguardless of the business side.
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Lets Go Dodgers. 2 more wins to .500. We can do it!
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Let’s get Andre back in the line up asap.
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Thanks for the updates Josh.
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Yep Nelly, its all pretty much been said. Most of the posts have been excellent and echo my feelings on the trade. I would not have done it and I don’t think it is going to make a huge/significant difference. I hope I am mistaken. The real problem is obviously the Cow completely tanking and Phew being Phew. It seems incompetent to me to be freaking out to find some power, yet sit your co-leader in HR and play CowPhew. But hey, what do I know. LOL!!!

Of course Beav!! I wouldn’t forget to get anything for my boys. I tried to bring home a good lineup, but I don’t think that is going to happen. Joe wanted to do it his way.
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Thanks sara – the news about Blake is very sad :(

Sure he kills some rallies, but he has started a few too. He isn’t the best, but do you really think Young is an upgrade? Pierre has put up the numbers he always has. Can’t argue with that. We got him based on what he did, and hes continued to do just that. Cant sit a guy who’s doing whats asked and expected of him. The only problem with him is that he doesn’t need to be a leadoff guy.

Jones is the odd man out. We need to field an outfield of Ethier Kemp Pierre and we’ll be good.

Welcome home Dnelly!!!— I just read Andre’s blog. That guy is great :) I left him a post, I was glad to see you were first. When I first tried to leave a comment over there it said “you do not have permission to leave a comment on this blog”- that scared me. But it worked out ok.
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Yeah, My little Blakey going back to AAA is sad. But at least he’ll get the experience he needs and will be better than ever when they call him back up!!
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jhall – this issue is very, very frustrating to me. The whole patience thing is a joke. What are you asking Andre to be patient for – to see if Andruw can not strike out as much, get one hit per night. And then even so, if Andruw does snap out of it, then what? Andre sits even more. He is the best all-around outfielder right now, and he is sitting because he is being asked to be patient while Torre figures out Andruw Jones. We are at the end of F*ing July – how much more time does he need. And that’s just Andruw, and then there’s the other outfielder too, which I can’t even discuss right now because that is just beyond pathetic how he has all of a sudden become the team’s savior. We were doing fine without him. UUGGHHH!!!

I got you babe
Joe: They say we’re old and we can’t see
Anything good about walks or OBP.
Juan: Well I don’t care if all that’s true
‘Cause you got me, and baby I got you
Juan: Babe
Both: I got you babe I got you babe

Joe: They say our love won’t win no games
But I don’t care if we go down in flames.
Juan: I guess that’s so, I don’t care either
as long as I get to start instead of Ethier

Juan: Babe
Both: I got you babe I got you babe

Juan: I got 8….point 8 mil, and I put you…. in my will.
Joe: And when I’m sad, you’re a clown
And if I get scared, you’re always around
Joe: So let them say your hat’s too big
‘Cause I don’t care, let them call me pig
Juan: Then put your little hand in mine
There ain’t no hill or mountain we can’t climb

Juan: Babe
Both: I got you babe I got you babe

Juan: I got you to write my name
Joe: I got you to lead the game
Juan: I got you to pull up my socks
Joe: I got you to take me on walks

DNELLY- this is from Alyissa’s blog (if you haven’t already read it)
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“P.P.S. Andre Ethier (who just posted a new restaurant review to his MLBlog) deserves to play every day. If we aren’t going to give him that chance here then let’s trade him (even though that would bum me out) so he gets that opportunity someplace else.”

Shad, The only reason the Indians got Carlos Santana was because they agreed to pay the 2 million owed to Casey Blake for the rest of this season. So McCourt was so cheap that he’d rather give up a prospect than pay the 2 million. Pathetic!

– Casey Blake said he was excited about gaining free agency at season’s end and has said he would like to retire a Cleveland Indian. “I still have a chance to finish my career there,” he said. Joe Torre plans to put him every day in the lineup.

– Ned Colletti on Casey Blake: “He doesn’t take an at-bat off and doesn’t take a play in the field off. A little more stability. A little more offense. A veteran who’s been though a lot of different things before.”

– Colletti said he is now looking to acquire a relief pitcher, as he’s not too excited about the starting pitchers available.

– When Andy LaRoche heard about the trade from a friend, his reaction was, “I’m going to Cleveland? I didn’t want to go to Cleveland. It’s too cold up there.”

– LaRoche on Casey Blake: “If he’s going to help me get a ring, throw him out there. I have to accept my role. I’m a young guy. I can’t complain. I’m here. I’d rather be in LA than anywhere else. This is my home now. All my friends are on this team. Obviously, it (stinks not playing).”

– Blake DeWitt will be asked to play second base at Class AAA Las Vegas as well. “When you don’t produce, it’s not going to be in your favor.”

– Joe Torre on Casey Blake: “He has a grinding attitude and has been on a winner. He’s a little further along than (DeWitt and LaRoche) at this juncture. He was a tough out. I just like his overall personality. Casey Blake, he’s going to be a tough at-bat from the experience he has.”

– Torre on Colletti: “I think Colletti did a hell of a job in making a deal. On a daily basis, his work ethic is second to none as far as I’m concerned.”

– Colletti on the Andruw Jones situation: “We have three everyday outfielders and somebody who’s struggling to get his game together.”

– Brad Penny threw about 50 pitches in the sim game and is expected to get a rehab start next week.

– Mark Sweeney is working with Don Mattingly instead of going back on a rehab assignment.

interesting note for me was that dewitt will be asked to play second at triple-a which is a good sign to me.. i believe that means as long as they don’t trade andy, he will play third next year and dewitt will play second. the most hilarious quote was torre praising colletti’s work ethic.. i’m sure he sees colletti’s work ethic in the way he sees juan pierre’s.. so i’m going to take it as, they both work their butts off with not much to show for it..

He was also hitting .323 (fifth-best in the league) with 14 homers and an on-base percentage of .431, which is also tops in the Cal League. Santana leads the circuit with 88 runs scored, is third with 52 extra-base hits and fourth with a .563 slugging percentage.

While his strikeout-to-walk ratio is exceptional, it’s not because the opposition is issuing him intentional passes to keep the bat on his shoulder. Of his 69 walks this season, only four are intentional. Santana has struck out 59 times and has walked more times (178) in his career than he’s whiffed (174).

Santana is a switch hitter who has made significant strides at the plate this season. He hit .213 against right-handers last year, but is hitting .317 against them this season.

He’s second in the league throwing out runners attempting to steal (46 percent) after gunning down 38 percent of would-be base stealers last season in the Midwest League.

“He’s raw but I like him,” one scout told MLB.com. “He’s raw as far as catching skills but he can catch, hit and play hard. I’m not sure yet how he calls a game and receives because he’s still young and has a lot of stuff to work out behind the plate but he’s a good get for Cleveland.

“In his prime he might hit 10-15 homers in the big leagues. But right now his hitting part is ahead of his power. He squares the ball up well, is aggressive and takes good hacks. The ribbies he has this year aren’t a fluke or a Cal League thing. I think he’ll hit more for average than power but he has a plus arm and he’s still learning so there’s a higher ceiling there. I like him a lot.”

shad78 I have a lot of arguments for Carlos Santana, he`s a mix of Russell Martin (offense) and Yadier Molina (able to throw out the runners)…
And he can run: he stole 7 out 11… Not a bad nubers for a catcher…

Thanks Amy – everybody on every site is saying the same exact thing. I have read them all. I even talked to a Dodger fan on the elevator yesterday that said the same thing, so it’s not just us. Why Torre can’t see this is beyond comprehension to me, and I agree with that poster. As much as I would be crushed to see him not be in Dodger Blue, he has earned that spot in left field and deserves to play there. There is no logical reason that Torre can give me, or most on this board, that would convince me that Andre doesn’t deserve to be out there instead of Jones or Pierre everyday. He is the one completely to blame.

i would also like to point out how jumpy andy must feel judging by his quote.. and also i love that all the young guys are always saying how much they love la and want to stay here.. and by here.. they mean TOGETHER here.. they have great chemistry, and they will eventually provide results.. do not tear them apart..

Thanks for the quotes Sara. interesting stuff.
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Dnel- I’m watching the pre game show on our local LA station and they just did a segment on Andre Ethier. They of course agree with us, but they def, made the point the Jones needs to get in the rotation of sitting out and it’s so unfair for Andre to sit out 2 in a row- lefty or not. His lefty numbers are better than any of Jone’s numbers.
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We knew this already- but it seems like the Andre situation is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Hopefully, someone important will get the hint.

about the lineup.. i think it’s ridiculous.. it’s laughable.. i mean, derek lowe is pitching today right?? which means lots of groundballs? so why is joe providing lowe with quite possibly the worst infield defense possible? the man is crazy.. and i can’t understand him at all.. and to remove loney and andre’s offense from the lineup in the same day.. joe must have felt so comfortable about the power of this offense evidenced by the 3 runs yesterday..

What a sorry lineup. Where’s L O N E Y ????? OH I SEE, THEY HAVE AN OLD MAN PLAYING FIRST BASE SO HE DON’T HAVE TO RUN. Who’s going to bend over for him and pick up the ball? Torre, you’re pathetic and a worthless excuse for a manager.

DNELLY- this is from Alyissa’s blog (if you haven’t already read it)
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“P.P.S. Andre Ethier (who just posted a new restaurant review to his MLBlog) deserves to play every day. If we aren’t going to give him that chance here then let’s trade him (even though that would bum me out) so he gets that opportunity someplace else.”

so nomar playing first can only be explained by the fact that he cannot handle everyday shortstop duties.. he sat on monday because of nagging pains.. and now he’s displacing loney because apparently his bat is more valuable than loney’s..

this is our worst nightmare because if nomar can’t play shortstop everyday, then he will continue to take james out of the lineup because i’m sure joe would love any excuse to play nomar over james.. so basically ned and joe are idiots once more. we have too many 3rd baseman, but no shortstop.. and now that blake has been given third base everyday, the only other place nomar can play is 1st. brilliant. berroa and ozuna’s bats are so much better than loney’s and our offense will be better than ever =P

no way shad.. loney has sat. he even sat to give pathetic sweeney a couple starts.. these young guys don’t need rest.. if he can play russell everyday, day game after night game, then loney can certainly play 1st everyday. especially when his bat is so valuable on a sad offensive team..

oh wait, i forgot, we got casey blake. we should be tops in the majors for all offensive categories beginning with this day.. who needs andre or james.. they should take out russell and matty too.. they aren’t needed either.. blake will carry this team with his incredible offense..

Very good post, Amy. For those bloggers that are considering or have already jumped ship and are poised on the diving board or swimming towards the Angels, Gnats, etc., I do understand your frustrations and good luck to you . But what will you do if the Dodgers return to prominence or your new favorite team falls on hard times or displeases you in some way? I’m sticking around. If that makes me a lemming, as some blogger characterized a Dodger fan last night, so be it .At times like these, we need to step back, take a deep breath, and think about the reasons why we became Dodger fans in the first place. I became a Dodger fan because of the 1963 WS and Sandy Koufax. I remained a fan because of Kirk Gibson, Tommy Lasorda, “The Boys of Summer” Ebbets Field, Orel Hershiser, Vin Skully, Dons Sutton & Drysdale, Dodger Stadium, Steves Yeagar & Garvey, Brett Butler, Bill Buckner, Mikes Sciosia, Marshall ,(the Cy Young reliever and the outfielder, and Piazza, Walter Alston…I’m done. Please add any others you would like.

As Amy mentioned above, on KCAL’s Think Blue pregame show they were talking about how unfair it is that Ethier is being benched. He’s tied for the lead in hr’s and leading the team in slugging percentage and sits on the bench while Jones gets to start every day. I know it’s because of the money that Jones gets coddled no matter how terrible he is, but it’s sad that it’s become more about money than the integrity of the game.

Thank you seesky. I know if we all look deep into ourselves we all feel the same way about ‘our team’. I love this team so very much and it hurts me when there is so much negative comments. I will admit frustrations are normal- but some comments go too far sometimes I feel. I just try to get us all to remember why we are Dodger fans to begin with :)

It would be really nice to have a clean up guy that drives in runs. I understand Kent gave himself up to get Russell over to third and thats great but still wouldn’t it be nice if we had a REAL clean up hitter!

“It’s the same situation we had in April and I wasn’t playing,” Pierre said. “I was the odd man out. Then stuff happened where I got a chance to start playing every day. I really don’t know how they are going to do it.

“We’ve been in this situation before. It’s out my hands. It’s out all our hands as players. The manager is going to pick who he thinks is the best to go in. It’s on him. I just try to stay as positive as possible, cause all of us want to play and deserve to play. You can’t really justify what’s going on.”

yeah, it’s out of your hands and you don’t care because you’re not the one sitting.. EVER.. you certainly cared at the beginning of the year.. “stuff happened” means you cried about it to your agent and he took care of it..

shad, whatever the reason is, you can’t seriously believe it’s okay?? he’s played shortstop since he got back, and all of a sudden, he MUST play first? it doesn’t make sense.. and like i said, the only thing i can think of is that he’s hurting a bit from playing shortstop everyday, and joe thinks it’s smart to remove loney’s bat over nomar’s.. i do not believe nomar’s bat is more important than loney’s, and i say that fully aware of what nomar has provided since coming back.. i have been happy with what nomar has provided but that’s with the value of nomar’s bat replacing berroa’s bat, not replacing loney’s..

seesky – I will always,always be a Dodger fan – it’s just frustration on decision making that has me baffled. I have said it before, I will be heart-broken if Andre were not in Dodger blue, but it will pass in time, and things will be good again. I have been a Dodger fan since I can remember. It’s just Andre has been a personal favorite lately, and it’s hard to watch him go through this again.

Exactly, Amy. Just because the Dodgers do something I disagree with, (and, lately, they sure have) It doesn’t mean I will stop supporting them . I will back them always. Once the game starts, I support ALL DODGERS whether or not I think they should be playing or not.

bluecrewgirl – that reason right there is why I am such a big fan. He has never complained once, unlike others, and he has always been professional in his approach to the media, and for that I am very proud of him. He has said, he will get through it, he knows it’s part of the game, and he will be better for it. I guess you and I, along with others, have to be the ones to complain for him. At least if anybody reads this, they definitely know how we feel. :)

seesky and amy.. everyone knows you guys are right.. and no one is abandoning this team and this franchise regardless of the frustrations.. we all love our dodgers and we can gripe, but nothing will change that.. if people want to become angel fans or whatever, let them leave.. they’re not true fans if they do.. this is what being a sports fan is.. living with the ups and downs, cheering and crying.. if any sports franchise has never let you down, then you have not been a fan of the same team.. bandwagoners might not understand the pain, but all true fans do..

I will say that James does need a break. He after all has the most Dodger starts this year. And this is a team that he can win, with him sitting out. Have a good rest Loney!
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I just realized that I’m going to see Kershaw and Johnson pithch this week. I haven’t seen Kershaw pitch in person since his mlb debut in May. I look forward to seeing how Johnson does as a starter.
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you are right Sara. I know we feel that way, but it seems that the frustrations are getting the best of a lot of people here. Just trying to bring the sunshine on some darker times
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I will be there tomorrow- Why are the autographs for 14 and under anyway?? I want to meet the guys, but there are no children in my life- so I can’t mooch off of them. They need a young ladies autograph day :)

Hey, Kudos to Joe! I’m finally starting to “get it.” Ethier yesterday…Loney today. Don’t want either of them to face a first-ballot, hall-of-fame lefty like Perez, do you? And tomorrow Joe can sub out that scrub Martin for Ardoin, and if Ned would get his act together, activate Sweeney, switch a few positions here and there, and presto!!, we can get Kemp’s non-producing a** on the bench, too. FINALLY, none of those pesky kids to muck things up. Again, kudos to Joe!!

nelly– I strongly agree that Andre should be playing and, as for his current plight, “this, too, shall pass” After the Piazza debacle, I vowed to never again get emotionally deeply invested in any player. Today, I still have my favorite Dodgers but I recognize that the majority of Dodgers will not be here forever. It’s the nature of the beast of the business that is MLB.This latest trade is the Nedster’s way of doing something without actually doing anything. We did’nt give up much in players or money for a 2-month rental that we didn’t need anyway. I wish Blake well because he is a Dodger but, because of the learning curve involved in switching leagues,he probably won’t make much impact. All in all, a trade that didn’t need to be made. More evidence that Ned needs to go and soon.

That skipping thing that Matt did, Andre does that skipping thing all the time, too. Maybe it’s an outfielder thing – lol!!! Also, I have noticed that Andre jumps over the foul lines. I don’t know if he does it on purpose, but it sure is funny. It looks like it’s some superstition he has. That would be something to find out, I suppose.

my dad and I have this thing that we text eachother “Nomar” everytime he does well. But my dad being from Boston usually texts me “Nomahhh”- you all probably don’t care…but I felt like sharing.
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Good job Casey- I decided I will not call him Blake cause it’s Dewitts name. One will be Casey and one will be Blake.
Man, I am in sharing mode tonight..haha

What the ****?!?!?
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For some reason, I thought that the game was 7:40, not 7:10, so joined late. And I learn that James Loney is sitting.
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What the ****?!?!?
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We already know the screwed up situation with Ethier–sure, sit the guy with the most home runs, that will help our offense. But now we’re also going to sit the palyer with the best batting average and most RBI (one more than the vaunted Casey Blake, and he’s not playing in the bandbox known as the American League).
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What the ****!!!!!!!!!!
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If Loney is literally throwing up in the clubhouse, then, hey, I get it. But if not, I’m going to fly back to LA and beat the living **** out of Joe Torre.
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No Shad, No Amy, James Loney does not need “a day off.” He plays first base, not catcher where you take abuse every day behind the plate. Anyone ever hear of Cal Ripkin, who played 2632 consecutive games? Anyone ever hear of Dodger First Baseman Steve Garvey, who played 1207 consecutive games, and only stopped when he got injured? Anyone ever hear of First Baseman Lou Gehrig, who played 2130 consecutive games and only stopped because he contracted a debilitating disease named after him? Anyone ever hear of Juan Pierre, who played 386 consecutive games even when he sucked?
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James Loney is 23. He’s not an over-the-hill 40-year-old like Jeff Kent, he’s not a fragile 35-year old like Nomar, and he’s not a late-blooming 34-year old like Casey Blake. He’s 23 and strong as an ox, and there better be a damn good explanation for him sitting, or there will be hell to pay.
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You know, yesterday, we actually had all five of the Jacksonville-5+1 (Billingsley, Broxton, Martin, Loney, LaRoche + Kemp) play in their future roles for the first time (Bills as the Ace, Broxton as the Closer), and even while Torre had not put on his screwed up head right to figure out that you sit the bonehead hitting 40 points below the Mendoza Line and you play the team home run leader, it was nice to see that the long-term plan was coming together.
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But apparently the Dodgers only ******* plan is to supplement the players salaries with social security.
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********!

If Santana isn’t a prized prospect, what does it take to be one? If you look at his numbers and think about them for a minute, there is no way this guy should have been traded. He is leading all of the minors in RBIs and all his numbers are very impressive. Plus he has a strong arm and is good at throwing out runners. He could be a real star for years to come. Of course, nobody can know that for sure, but with those credentials he would be untouchable in my book until there is more opportunity to see how he does at the next level. To trade him along with someone like Meloan for a 2 month rental of an older average player is really pathetic.

“He (Colletti) felt comfortable dealing Meloan, who had been passed by other young pitchers like Clayton Kershaw, Cory Wade and Ramon Troncoso. Santana is considered the player with a higher ceiling, but the Dodgers have depth at catcher with 25-year-old All-Star Russell Martin and Double-A prospect Lucas May, while it’s not certain whether Santana’s long-range position will be behind the plate.”

Well, since Martin can play other positions, he and Santana could both play on the same team.

“Torre said he “fully endorsed” the Blake trade, and added that he also endorsed signing Jones.” Ned and Joe are like two peas in a pod. Neither has a clue about how to utilize young talent or any concern for the future. Just trade away the young prospects for aging vets and they’re happy.

Can Andre play now please? His behind is getting tired of sitting on the bench Mr. Torre. Mr. Torre, Can Andre come out and play now, pleeeeeaasseeee?? He’s only 26 years old Mr. Torre. We think he can handle it. He is a good boy, Mr. Torre.

it’s only one night. Loney has the most starts out of all the dodgers, more than martin. I know it’s first base, but I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not like the man never plays. It is not a ethier problem. It’s 1 night. He will be ok.

******** Shad. I could go 2-4 off of Odalis Perez. Hitting the crap out of a pitcher who should have been out of the league 3 years ago is not “knowing what you’re doing.”
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If Torre “knew what he was doing he would sit the only useless sack of crap who goes 0 for 3 against the Washington Generals–or Nationals, I can’t figure out which.

Sorry Shad, I shouldn’t be going off on you, even though I think you are very wrong. I’m pissed at Torre, and let it out on you there.
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I think you’re way off, but I don’t think anyone here should go off on anyone else here.

shad.. just because they are winning does not mean torre knows what he is doing.. the nats are a terrible team, and odalis is terrible. sitting loney was not the right move. i still stand by it. nomar could have hit that homerun playing shortstop just as much as at first. when we win, we win despite torre, not because of him..

leefink – We don’t know it won’t turn into an ethier problem. Except for Russell, Torre has managed to mess with every young player’s head except for Loney. Here’s his chance. It probably is just a day off, but we thought that at one time too, when Pierre went in for Ethier for a day off, and look what happened. I wouldn’t put it past him to do something like that, not after what he has done so far.

Guys–don’t root for the Giants. There will be other teams who can beat the Diamondbacks, and the Giants are evil (more evil than Joe Torre? Well, that’s not clear, but evil.)
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Besides, the Giants always–ALWAYS–roll over for teams that are competing with the Dodgers. In the 90’s, Dusty Baker would adjust his rotation so his good starters were going against the Dodgers and his bad ones against other NL West teams. Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds would randomly have off-days on the same day against the Padres, but play every inning against the Dodgers. So, besides it being wrong to root for the Giants, its fruitless.

amy, the deal is that we need to be giving ourselves the best chance to win everynight by playing our best available players. we are playing the crappy nationals so we are winning. if we fielded this team and this lineup against a quality opponent we may not be.

I get what you’re saying leefink, but the fact is the dodgers need every game they can get. yeah, it’s evil to root for them, but hell when the d’backs were rolling over and dying on an 8 game losing streak, we pretty much rolled over and died as well. if the Gnats can beat them in the race then I’m glad, because they’re not even in contention. Well, not even sure if we are… :-/

Leefink – I AM NOT ROOTING ON THE GIANTS!!! I JUST CAN’T !! I TRY, BUT I CAN’T!! IT’S ENGRAINED!!! I CAN’T DO IT!!!
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Also – I do have dbacks on my fantasy team and since ANDRE IS NOT PLAYING he’s not exactly helping in the fantasy part, if you know what I mean. Does Joe realize how many fantasy leagues depend on Andre now. He went from being owned by 30% of the leagues at the beginning and now is owned in 80%.

But that’s my point sara/ leefink- We are playing an easy game. These are the ones where you can allow to sit the “1st sting” players. It’s ok that Loney can rest, this is a win that we can handle with out him. If this was Arizona then we’d have a problem.
1 night off to a crappy team is acceptable!!!!!!!

dnelly, that’s exactly my fear. i believe that joe is playing nomar there because his body can’t handle the grind of playing shortstop everyday so he’s going to play first on the days he doesn’t play short, kinda like russell and third.. the more at bats loney loses, the bigger the problem. that’s what my anger over today is about.. it’s not about him sitting out today.. it’s about him potential sitting out every few days..

I wouldn’t be too sure about that, Amy. I thought Andre was in good shape hitting over .300 earlier this year the first time he got benched. Nothing would surprise me where Torre’s lineups are concerned.

Let’s say it wouldn’t be too surprising that JoJo starts as many PVLs as he can against the worst team in the league so thet even they’ll do well, thus justifying him playing them more and more down the stretch.

i hear you dnelly.. i mean, meloan said he was suspicious when he was pulled from his start.. and then he was traded the next day.. but i really don’t think loney gets traded.. it’s ludicrous.. this conversation between us is a result of not trusting ned.. with a decent GM we wouldn’t even bring this up..

bluecrewgirl- ya. but for now I will take comfort in the fact that there are not 4 first basemen for loney to compete with.
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ok sara- I will accept the “high 2″ haha. either way it’s a good picture.
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Good job James- boo to the double play :(

If we were beatig a great pitcher 6-0 then I would really be excited.
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And no, Torre has no idea what he’s doing.
He just throws names on paper up in the air and the ones that land face up get to play. Torre sucks. Watched him manage the Cards and he sucked there too.

sara – it’s just pure frustration on my part right now. I just can’t figure out how Andre can be benched two days in a row for a player who is batting .167 (last time I checked). It’s just pure frustration!!!!!! I am glad to see James got into the game, however.

I don’t respect any manager who would start either Pierre or Jones over Ethier. Period. But I also just have to get over the fact we are run by idiots or else i’ll have an ulcer or root for the Angels. I usually wind up rooting for them come playoff time anyhow just cause they are relevant usually.

I’m not a Torre hater either. I just have never been impressed with Torre as I watched him in St Louis and he was an average manager and he had some good teams here.
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Lets Have a little peace and harmony here.

I think leeks point was shad, that because of all the injuries and sub-par seasons the vets are having, you need your manager to be even better at putting the best he can out on the field and be even sharper in his decisions, and that Torre instead of doing that, keeps playing the lesser players and using tired old cliches when they don’t perform.

Marvellous 6 To 0 Victory By our Beloved Los Angeles Dodgers over the Washington Nationals! Super Super Gutsy Hero Kryptonite Busting Performance by Everybody! The Great Dodger In The Sky & His Glorious Stars in Heaven will never rest until kryptonite is destoyed forever and Our Super Los Angeles Dodger Team’s Greatness is seen by everbody As Our Beloved Los Angeles Dodgers are Crowned Wold Series Champions in this Glorious,Majestic Year 2008, The Los Angeles Dodger Jubilee Year in Our 50th Anniversay of The Brilliant The Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles!

I heard on the radio today that the Rockies think they have a chance to take this division like they did last year, and that they may be holding off on all trades, including Brian Fuentes and Matt Holliday. They won again tonight, too. I think they are more scary than the dbacks right now to be honest. They may come from behind and kick both of our a**es straight to the top once again.

enchanted – I take online classes through LaVerne University. I love that area.
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shad – you need to drop this. Leefink is great and full of information, and he already apologized a long time ago. Please drop this.

I can’t believe people are crying over Carlos Santana. I’ve never even heard of the guy before today. We’ve already got an all-star catcher you can pencil in for the next ten years.

I’m not a Ned supporter by any stretch, but getting Blake was a good move. Hurts to lose Meloan, who seemed like he would have been a good bullpen guy, but you got to give to get. Get over yourselves people. What, you think other teams are giving us players for nothing?

enchanted – I have had many of those in the past two days – several yesterday!!!
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bluecrewgirl – my co-workers son graduated from there a year or so ago, and he loved it. Her other son just graduated from Redlands and is now in the Masters program there.

Im sorry crew but for everyone complaining about Loney sitting, WHY? If there was any team we could rest him against its the Nationals, and he has played every game this season, including tonight, I have no problem at all giving him a night off. As much as I hate seeing Ethier out, I do however understand slightly starting Jones again. Lefty against righty and all that bull crap…But also Jones has had back to back games with doubles and you know if there can be anything done to get Andruw hot it needs to be done because a productive Andruw Jones puts this team over the top in the NL West, possibly NL. I do not mind trying to force the issue comin off back to back “decent game”. Anyone who has every played ball knows that sometimes it only takes that one thing to spark a hot streak, in my senior year it was a sacrafice bunt half way through the season which took me out of a slump and ended up hitting over 500 the rest of the way. And once again we can take the risk against the Nats. Look forward to seeing Ethier and Loney back in there tomorrow.

Was just out in LaVerne/Montclair/SG Valley bluecrew… I don’t notice the changes so much in the first two, but being as how I grew up in Arcadia, boy has that changed. Its also nice being in neighborhoods with lawns. Rare to see a lawn out here in the desert – everything’s “desert landscaped” mostly with rocks of varying sizes.

Jones or Pierre over Ethier is what bugs me most on a day to day basis. Even last year Ethier was a better player than Jones. Many of us questioned it and later rationalized the bringing in Jones. I was onboard as I have said before, but Josh can dig up my post said logically I know this is bad….But we all, i mean all said this 36 million is waysted money if they sign Jones in order to not play Ethier and its exactly what is happenning, and that would be if Jones had an OPS+ of 104 (Ethiers, so save 36 mill play ethier and buy others.,) but currently it is 38. THIRTY 8. Thirty8. tHIRTY eIGHT..my gosh.

Mark Sweeney OPS+ is -18
Berorra is actually worse (not after tonight) than Jones at 35.

The All Star Martin leads at 114. (Kemp, Loney, Nomar over 100) For those who don’t know, I feel OPS + is the best stat..(not the end all, but the best for me) after all in baseball history top 5 in category for career are:

Shad – Yes, I have been here all night, and you need to back off of leefink. He didn’t do anything wrong. He is just stating his opinions, which most of us agree with, and he made a mistake and he aplogized. Leave it alone, please!!

Yeah, enchanted, La Verne and Claremont haven’t changed much over the years because they were pretty built up to begin with. Where I am now n Rancho Cucamonga was total boonies back in the 80’s when I lived in Claremont and has changed radically since then. There’s still a lot of construction going on even in the current economy. I like the desert landscapes too though. My family lives in the high desert here and there are some pretty cool landscaping jobs at some of the houses there.

I lived in Cucamonga briefly back in ’87 on a street behind what used to be a winery up on Foothill. Then for years did business with a company just shy of the 15 Fwy below Foothill real close to the Quakes ballpark. Cucamonga used to be nothing when I was a kid, now its huge.

Just to stir things up, do you package something like Kemp and a pitcher maybe stultz, prob have to give up a bit more for Manny Ramirez and Cash considerations. Apparently he is on the trading block for relationship issues with boston management.

haha, should we ship the piano to them as well. If we got rid of them we would not need it anymore. But o be honest I really have a feeling that before the deadline is ove rLowe will not be a Dodger. He sure seems to be frustrated( understandably with his run support) with being a dodger and will prob not resign. Why not try and get something in return for him. I hate losing such a dependable pitcher in Lowe, but if he is just going to be gone at the end of the year maybe its best to trade him now.

Manny just being Manny would be interesting to say the least. I would give anything to get rid of JP and Andruw – I would even take Manny. Bonds is where I draw the line – no more former giants for a while until we get rid of Ned.

No, I agree with you too I was just curious to get opinions. I really was happy about the blake deal, Laroche has been great off the bench for us, Dewitt has struggled and should be in AA or AAA anyways (great feel good story though). It helps to like the deal given that he went 2-3 with and RBI double and has produced just about as much as Jones has in one day, and hes playing here for free lol.

No current roster young guns should be traded. If people are asking about them, that means they have value, and we don’t want to get rid of things that have value. See, nobody asks about Pierre and Jones because they have no value other than to Torre, which still boggles my mind.

Doesn’t matter who you bring into the outfield as an upgrade if you are going to continue to start Cow and Phew. Replacing Kemp or Ethier and failure to alleviate the real problem is not going to significantly improve the outfield.

To defend Mr Torre it is very hard to sit players who make a combined 27 million, blame completely on Nedster. That would be like having A Rod sit on the bench in favor of someone like Laroche, money wise. Just very hard to do.

I’d take Manny if it meant getting rid of Phew and the Cow. Manny being Manny in LA would be interesting to say the least. It would get even weirder without Big Poppi to somewhat influence him. Would be much better than Phew being Phew and the Cow being sh*t.

spanky – The only part of the game I enjoyed tonight was seeing Casey do well. I just wish Grady was here with him, and Jhonny too for that matter. Boy! jhall – Dodgers and Indians on the same team – that would be awesome! We need a short stop (Peralta) and we need a good centerfielder (Sizemore) and we have Casey (3rd). We can ship out Berroa and Jones with Pierre out to Cleveland. Then you can go watch them play all the time – lol!!!

Even when Jones only gets 3ABs, he still can make 4 outs. I understand that if Jones gets going he can carry the club, but he’s the most pitiful excuse for a ballplayer I’ve ever seen, and nothing last year and especially this indicates he isn’t anything but done. Kudos to Boras for finding a rube to fleece, but Ned needs to just take his lumps and DFA the guy. If he absolutely won’t do that, then 60-day DL him and let him try again in the spring before you DFA him. I doubt if you let him go that any other club takes a chance on him.

Ya and dont let him go so we pay him so much and he can go sign with Colorado and do well in the high altitude. I like the idea of the 60 day DL give him a shot next spring then if nothing happens you can drop him, or trade him for a new whirpool in the locker room.

enchanted – that’s the least this management can do to fix this Jones fiasco. I feel bad for Andre not playing, but in some ways you kind of wonder if Andre is just laughing his *ss off thinking the same things we are. Maybe that’s why Andre appears to be having such a good time all the time. He can honestly sit in the dugout knowing they aren’t booing him when he goes out there. There’s got to be some comfort in that feeling alone.

Shad – you need to drop this now. I don’t think you want to be saying this stuff online. We like leefink around here, and you are scaring some of us. Please don’t talk that way.
You are messing with the wrong people when you talk this way about him or anybody for that matter.

Shad dear- it’s been hours. He disrespected you, and said he was sorry. Now you are coming off worse than he did. We love you both around here. It’s about the Dodgers and tonight was a great night for the boys. That needs to be the focus!

Goodnight ITD friends. I will be at the next 3 games so I wont really be online. Today was a tense day around here. A lot of emotions came out. The Dodgers are one game closer to.500, Matt and Nomar increased their Hr’s, Andre SHOULD be back tomorrow and Casey might just be what we need. These are all good positive things. I won’t give up my positive messages and my enthusiasm for the Dodgers.
But boy, you all wore me out tonight. It was a tough blogging kind of day.

Amy – I just want Andre to play – that’s all, and two days in a row is so unfair. It’s hard to be happy about everyone else getting to play but him. I know it’s a team thing, but this happens to Andre all the time, and he deserves better. I love the Dodgers, but it doesn’t mean I have to like all of them.

Obviously, the game was wonderful. I went to the game with my lifelong friend Jeff and our two sons. It was great to see him again. We used to go to games all the time back in the day. We stopped at Phillipe’s for a beef dip sandwich (a tradition for all of you not-in-LAers) but left room for a Dodger Dog. That we got the win just put a nice cherry on a hot fudge sundae of a day!

What in the blue blazes is going on around here? I haven’t backtracked yet.

bluecrewgirl – I hope so. I am going to the dbacks series, and I am hoping this issue is somewhat resolved by then. Amy did have a point in the good teams vs. bad teams. Maybe they are saving Andre for the better teams, who knows. Like you said, he is taking it really well, and he seems to be enjoying himself, and maybe he is laughing at the situation, too.

Andre Ethier wasn’t in the mood to talk about being left out of the lineup for the second consecutive day. Though Torre has complimented Ethier for his consistency in recent games, the manager opted for an outfield that included Pierre, Andruw Jones and Matt Kemp.

“I’m not allowed to have feeling with what goes on around here,” Ethier said.

jungar – Are you kidding me?!!! This is so very wrong, so very wrong. So, Pierre can go sulk in a corner when he didn’t get playing time, and Andre just has to sit and be happy – what a load of crap!!!!

Hey everyone. Great win today. Yeah, we “should” be beating up times like this, but how many times over the years have we seen out team lose to losing teams, even when they’re good against winning teams? A win’s a win.

I won’t be posting much over the next 5 days. I’m headed down the 99 to SoCal to spend time with family, and maybe catch a Dodgers-Giants game. If I don’t get on much, hope you all have fun, and that the team will pull from the mess in the West.

I’d be pissed, too, if I was Ethier. Jones’ double play ball was painful to see. I want to like him…but not at Ethier’s expense. Joe is a toad for the way he handles the outfield. Name another manager in baseball who would sit Andre Ethier for the likes of Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre.

Good Morning ITD writers and readers!!
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good morning jhall!! exciting stuff last night – lol!!
Also, did you read that quote that jungar left about Ethier. That statement said alot about what he if feeling, I think. And yes, sara’s comment was pretty funny!!

Good morning ITD Nam!!!! LOL!!
Could be a huge day for the Dodgers. Sweep the Nats and get Kersh his first win in the show, get back to .500, and with some help from the G’nats, get a share of first place.
Yep Nell’, read that. I’m sure he is very disappointed and pissed. Justifiably so. Gee, I think I’d sit my team co-leader in HR and best all around player not named Martin for a .166 hitting strikeout machine. Unbelievable.
Let’s go Dodgers!!! Bring the whooping stick!!!!!

LET’S GO DODGERS!!!! BTW – I really couldn’t cheer on the gnats last night. It’s really hard wanting them to win, and my son and husband were pissed that their bullpen gave up Lincecum’s win. I have to say I do like Linsecum. I just wish he wasn’t wearing black and orange and has the word Giants written across his chest – lol!!

I hate the Gnats, but I’ll pull for them to beat the Snakes. The chances of the Giants catching and passing our boys is remote, so urging them on to a win over the team above us it socially acceptible. :) In all other circumstances, I hope they lose every game.

LOL!!! Okay – How about if I sit in silence while watching? I do have to say that yesterday on our drive home, Jon Milller and gang were talking, and they are so very happy with their young players, and they interviewed Bocchi, and he is so very happy with their young players, and the fans love watching them play everyday. We aren’t feeling that love from Joe at all – at times it feels like the exact opposite – more veteran power the better. Not that I am saying anything bad about Blake (I have already said I liked watching him play as an Indian), but we are the only team in our division (and state) who is acquiring vets and letting go of kids. All others are going for youth. Yes, I assume some think we are in contention, but we could have done this with out acquiring Blake.

It’s a dilemma being a Dodger fan this season. You know which players you love and a couple that I would even hate, but you really can’t do that when they’re in the Dodger uniform. I’m satisfied with what veterans like Kent and Nomar are contributing, even though their range has diminished greatly, and they won’t put up the kind of numbers needed for a contending team. I’ll even give that Pierre is doing all he’s capable of, and it’s not his fault that we have him in the lineup and in the leadoff every day. The player that I do hate is Jones, because I think that he’s a real blight on the team. I pretty much root for the Dodgers winning, while at the same time wishing for Jones to fail so miserably that he’ll continue to be humiliated before the fans and most of all Torre. Yet again, it’s not his fault that he’s here and that he’s no longer capable of doing anything.

I do fault Ned for bringing this team makeup together and Torre for being the kind of manager he is, which is not what the Dodgers need in their development phase. I’m glad that Frank presumably has put the brakes on Ned, and I only wish that he’d show Ned the door. If Frank is indeed so much involved in the meanagement process, he should also have a long talk with Torre and tell him that the team’s interest is in developing our young players instead of figuring out what’s ailing the veterans that he’s been given, because he’c clearly a poor manager of the younger element.

I wish that the Dodgers make the playoffs and somehow surprise most of us when they get there. On the other hand, I think the franchise would be much better off if we missed the post-season and if that meant that Ned is finally gone. It has been a miserable experience living with the Dodgers while he’s at the helm.

Good morning, bear!!! Fabulous comments as always!!! I totally understand the feelings. While I love the Dodgers as a team, it doesn’t mean I have to like all the names on the back of the jersey, and like you said, Ned and Joe are to blame for this mentality. The gnats are so impressed with their young players and has all the media behind them, and yes, they point out their flaws, but it’s usually not condescending – they know it’s part of their learning. For whatever reason, in the Dodgers organization, it is the opposite. The media, Joe and Ned celebrate the vets and put down the kids in a condescending way saying they “don’t get it”.

The Dodgers farm system is the envy of 90% of all the clubs, yet their own magament seems to disdain the whole thing. You’d think that Frank would see that a cheap winning ballclub is much more desirable and puts more butts in the seats than a batch of overpriced underachieving has-beens. Do more than a dozen people actually go to the game to specifically see JP and The Cow? How many more people would though if they could see a bunch of young budding stars who play with fire and enthusiasm? And JoJo is like the crotchety old fart when you were a kid who always had a fit if you cut across a corner of his lawn – get outta here you kids!

LMAO!!! See, that’s what I go to the ballpark for – to see the enthusiasm in the young players wanting to play ball every day, and wanting to win the game just because. My hope is that Russell hangs onto not signing a contract until Ned is gone, and he is assured his young core around him are not going anywhere anytime soon. Andruw needs to show that he is a team player by telling Torre, “You know what,I suck this season, and I want Andre to play instead”. That would be a team player. Also, JP needs to say to Torre, “You know, Matt did a great job leading off, why don’t I take the 8th spot and let him and Andre continue their one, two punch because it was so effective.” I know it’s not going to happen, and I know Grady isn’t coming to the Dodgers ethier (either), but one can always have hope :)

Does anyone think that maybe its ego that won’t allow Torre to lose with the kids and help them grow? That’s why he has to find ways to play the vets so that he can get back to the post season and show everybody he’s Super JoJo the managerial wonder?

That’s very possible, but it ain’t going to work. We don’t have good vets, we have PVLs. Yes, they have their good days and sometimes weeks, but not one of them is having a good season compared to how they should be doing. Pierre is probably the only one living up to his numbers, but his numbers suck to begin with (Sorry, “are not good” to begin with) – LOL!!!!

Gee Wally, I don’t know where your father is. He’s probably out doing the yard, or maybe he is stuck on the roof again like he was last week. As for the Beav, you gotta love him, even if he is a little goofy.

Torre probably figures that he was hired for his managerial prowess and that it’s incumbent on him to manage the way he’s always managed. That probably includes the precept that you play veterans unless and until you have to resort to younger players, and that’s the way presumably that it worked with the Yankees. Of course, there he had a different group of veterans. Torre is too old a dog to learn new tricks, and I don’t think he’s ever been accused of being flexible. Just note his prickly attitude when he starts getting questioned. Obviously Frank likes to surround himself with people that rate a high publicity factor, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has Cushman in mind to replace Ned once he’s gone. I hope that Cushman at least knows how to strike the right deal, which Ned has never learned and never accomplished.

Hey my husband just came home from the store, and he said the Giants morning broadcasters are livid over their loss last night, as they should be. It will be the same as the dbacks, get to their bullpen and we should be okay against the Giants. Linsecum had 13 strikeouts last night (a career high) and still lost.

And not to mention watching Andre sitting on the bench. How absurd is this anyway, especially this late in the season. Andre has performed all season long since day one, and he’s being benched over some one who hasn’t gotten past .172 all year and a player who throws worse than any highschool player I know. I know, stop compaining – I am supposed to be happy because they are all Dodgers – yeah right!!!

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